Fight
by Anonymous033
Summary: Ray shows up months after Ziva found out that he lied to her again, and Tony loses it.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Ray shows up months after Ziva found out that he lied to her again, and Tony loses it.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned NCIS, I would have enough money to fix my broken laptop. :( Since I'm on a school computer right now, I obviously don't own NCIS.**

**Spoilers: Jeanne arc, Michael arc, Ray arc.**

**This piece can be read as a companion piece to "Promise", or as a one-shot in itself. And yes, I am aware of the irony in what Tony says later in this fic. But he's trying, and that's what counts. Read, enjoy, please review!**

**-_Soph_**

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><p><strong>Fight<strong>

"Hey, Ziva."

The voice makes her freeze, the hairs on the back of her neck rising. Her heart races. She stares straight ahead, not daring to turn around. Beside her, half sitting on her desk, Tony has gone silent; she feels fury radiating from him.

"How are you?"

Before she can react, Tony has slid off her desk, and she looks over her shoulder just in time to see him bunch up Ray's collar with his hand. "Get lost," he growls, his face an inch from Ray's and contorted with rage.

"Tony!" She and the NCIS escort try to pull him away, but of course Ray just stares calmly back at him.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"Too bad, cause now you'll be leaving with only one arm," he spits out.

"Agent DiNozzo!" Vance calls down sternly from the top of the staircase. "Agent Cruz is here upon my request, and I would appreciate it if you do not manhandle NCIS' visitors."

He snarls, and Vance's eyes narrow.

"My office, now. Agent Cruz, if you will please follow?"

She watches as they leave the bullpen. She has never seen Tony that angry before, and the thought of there being dire consequences for him scares her. She sits down and tries to concentrate on her work, but her mind keeps drifting off to the men upstairs. In the end she gives up and just props her head in her hands, elbows on her desk as she focuses worriedly on the silver door leading to the director's office.

She sees him exit it five minutes later, and almost knocks over her chair in her haste to get to him. She forces herself to wait for him to descend the stairs, and then drags him to the small space behind it.

"What happened with Director Vance?"

He shrugs and gives her a gentle smile. "Told me off. Tried to suspend me again."

Fear grips her. "Did he?"

"No." He looks sadly at her for a moment. "Ray's in a meeting with him now."

"Oh." She shifts uncomfortably on her feet. "Tony, what…"

"Lost my temper for a moment. No big deal."

"I have never seen you lose your temper _that _much."

"Well, maybe I just got out of the wrong side of the bed today. Trust Ray to show up on the exact same morning." He grimaces, and then gives her that expression again; the one that is one-fourth concern and three-fourths pure sadness. "Are you alright?"

"I could have done without seeing him, but I am fine. It has been almost a year; I have moved past it."

He looks like he wants to push the issue, but decides against it. "Come on," he simply says, and leads the way back to the bullpen.

Ray emerges an hour later, and repeats the process of approaching her. This time, Tony glances up from his desk but does not interfere; the only sign that he has registered Ray's presence at all is the dull thud which tells her he has kicked something under the table.

"Can we talk?" Ray almost pleads her.

Her steely eyed gaze hold his for a long time before she finally agrees.

xoxo

Her gut, though not as good as Gibbs's, tells her that something is wrong. She feels it right down to her bones as she drives home, and so she deliberately misses the turning and goes to his apartment instead.

His countenance, when he opens the door, feels like a kick to the stomach because he has never looked more miserable. His shoulders slump in his well-pressed suit as he steps aside to let her in.

She takes the opened can of beer from him and wraps her hand around his, leading him to his living room. Putting the can on the coffee table, she pulls on his hand to get him to sit with her, but does not let go of him. "Tony, something is bothering you."

He sighs and rubs his face with his free hand. "How did the talk with Ray go?"

"It was okay. He explained to me why he did what he did."

His mouth hardens. "So why?"

"Orders from the agency. It does not matter, anyway. I was not interested in knowing."

"Are you still mad at him?"

"No."

"Then you're…back together…with him?"

She takes in how his eyes shine with feigned indifference; she wonders if he knows it's tainted with real misery. She can see it in the downward curves of his mouth; the way he keeps swallowing. She squeezes his hand. "No. I have broken up with him for good."

He breaks their gaze, and she is contemplating if she has said the wrong thing when he moves his hand and threads his fingers in between hers. "It's the right decision." Ever the loyal partner.

She snuggles into him and leans her head against his shoulder. "I did not know you were so good at threatening people."

"He hurt you."

"A lot of people do."

"I know, but this is different. You…loved him."

"Not anymore."

"Yeah, I know." He falls still and stares unseeingly at the wall for a while. "I don't know how to do this."

"Do what?"

"Stop people from hurting you."

"Tony, you do not have to stop people from hurting me."

"I know. I'm not your keeper, you can take care of yourself, and your relationships are none of my business, right?" He shoots her a faint smile, and for a second she has to resist the urge to lean up and just kiss him.

She settles for nuzzling her head into his neck instead. "No, Tony. It is just that I know I can count on you to threaten them if they hurt me."

He scrunches up his forehead as he tries to figure out if she is being serious. She lifts her head and looks at him, and then laughs. "I mean I know that you will be there are the end of the day. And then things are better."

"Really?"

"Yes. And for the record, thank you for being there when Ray…you know. It helped me a lot."

"Just doing my job." It is her turn to scrunch up her forehead, and he sighs fondly. "Not my literal job. I mean my job as a partner and friend and-" he cuts off abruptly.

"And what?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing. I just ran out of things to say."

"Tony, I did not come here to listen to you _not _tell me anything. You look sad, and-"

"What if I told you that I love you?" he blurts out suddenly.

"What?"

"What if I told you that I wanted to _smash Ray's face in _because-" he stops and gets up, pulling his hand away from hers. "Forget it. You should go, Ziva."

She gapes at him, paralyzed.

"Ziva." Behind the sharpness in his tone she can hear tears, and that is what sets her in motion. She gets up and puts her arms around his stiff figure, hugging him tightly until she can feel him start to tremble the slightest bit. "You're not making this easy for me."

"It does not have to be hard, Tony."

"Yeah it does. You think it was easy watching you being all giggly with Ray? Hearing him tell me that I'm _like a brother _to you? You wanna know what it felt like when I heard about that engagement ring box?" He backs away from her, looking wretched. "It wasn't easy. So don't act like you understand."

She watches as he walks to the door and opens it for her, avoiding her gaze. And then she follows and stops in front of him, covering the hand that rests on the doorknob with her own.

"You fell in love with Jeanne Benoit," she begins. "You shirked your duties to be with her. Lied to us, like I did with Michael. When she left, you missed her. _But I missed you. _Do you think it was easy for me, then?"

"No…I guess not."

"I am only trying to move on, Tony. Ray may have betrayed my trust, but he gave me happiness for a while. And I…cannot wait forever for you when I did not even know that…that you love me."

His hand clenches and unclenches at his side, as if he is holding back strong emotions. She steps forward and takes it up.

"Tony, look at me." His eyes meet hers, and she almost gasps at the raw pain in them. She rubs her thumb lightly over his skin and collects her thoughts. "I say it does not have to be hard because…you do not need to miss me. I am no longer in love with Ray. And…Tony…I have never been successful at moving on."

"So what does that mean?"

She hesitates, because voicing her feelings would mean a huge shift in their dynamic. But perhaps, in the end, things have always been this way. "It means…it means that I…love you too."

She smiles wearily up at him, and he looks back solemnly. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, he smiles back radiantly. He leans down and kisses her tentatively, only to break off it off and lean his forehead against hers. "It'll work out, right?" he asks desperately.

She carresses his face reassuringly. Sometimes she loves him so much it is hard to breathe. "Yes, it will."


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we go, a second chapter! This takes place a year after the first chapter. It's written cause...I forgot to mark the story as 'complete' and ended up with a few requests for continuation. Lol. A quick note before we go on to the story: Don't diss the story before you're done reading it; things are not what they seem.**

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><p>Faint sunlight filters through the windows, falling upon her and lighting up her gown. White, of course; he should have expected that with her respect for tradition. Floor-length and simple. Somehow it just seems to radiate her personality.<p>

And she herself looks beautiful, just like she always does. She has curled her hair for the first time in a long time; it runs down her back in gentle waves. That seems to radiate her personality, too. She is not one for beaded buns or anything as fancy.

She is beaming, wider than he has ever seen her smile before. How has he never known that she could look so stunning beyond belief?

The priest is beaming too, about to unite two persons in a bond that will change their lives forever. In a corner of the hall the rabbi stands, ready to do the same afterwards.

"Please repeat after me," the beaming priest says. "I, Ray Cruz-"

And the man he has lost her to repeats the words he will never forget. "I, Ray Cruz-"

"Take you Ziva David, for my wife-"

"Take you Ziva David, for my wife-"

Seven words more than he ever had the chance to say to her.

"To have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health-"

He does not notice when tears start to stream down his face.

"Until death do us part."

And he finds that he cannot stay there. Cannot watch her pledge her commitment, her loyalty, her love to someone else for the rest of her life. He gets up and storms down the aisle, not caring that everyone is staring at him. It is not like he can see them through the blur of his tears anyway. He feels her gaze burn into his back.

"Tony!"

He jerks awake with a yelp, flat on his back as his eyes fly open in the darkness. His hand immediately reaches out for her, and _thank God _her strong fingers clasp around it tightly, unlike the other nights when he is left torturing himself, until she calls, with whether it is just a nightmare.

He feels the covers move as she shifts closer to him. She does not let go of his hand until she is lying right next to him, and has rested her other hand on his chest to assure him of her presence. "It is alright. I am here."

"Ziva." His voice breaks as he rolls onto his side and throws his arm over her, crushing her to him desperately. He buries his nose in her hair and brushes his lips against her forehead feverishly; and oh he knows it is just a nightmare, but how he has missed her. How he has missed her so very much.

She lies still until he loosens his grip a little. And then her hand finds its way to his face; runs across his cheek lightly. "You were crying."

He makes a nervous noise. "Weird. I never cry when I'm awake." He leaves out the fact that he has been having the nightmare for more than a week, and that whenever he has it he ends up crying in his sleep. He does not mention that he has not cried that much – awake or asleep – in almost eleven years.

She seems to know anyway. The first part, at least. "This is not the first time you have had this nightmare."

He exhales slowly. "No, it's not."

"When did it start?"

"A couple of days after you left for that mission."

"Oh. Do you always…cry when you have it?"

"Sort…of. Not so much at first. It keeps getting worse."

"What is it about?"

He swallows. "You."

She pauses. "I make you cry?"

"Not exactly. Well, the circumstances just involve you."

"Tony."

"It's hard for me to explain, Zi."

She blinks as she tries to figure out what to say next. "The matters of the heart usually are."

"Yeah." And how on Earth is he to tell her that he is afraid of losing her? _I want to marry you, Ziva David, spend the rest of my life with you. But I'm afraid you'll laugh in my face and leave. _If she did not ridicule him for it he would himself.

It is almost as if she can sense his thoughts, because she looks at him seriously and says, "I will not judge."

He sighs. He has to tell her sometime. "Promise?"

"I promise, Tony."

He searches her eyes. Will she ever again look at him so trustingly? Will she ever again look at him, for that matter? "I was engaged once…to be married. Before I came to NCIS."

She stiffens almost imperceptibly, and he braces himself. That way it will not be so difficult when she disentangles herself from him to say goodbye. That way he will not have to beg her to stay.

Right?

"What happened?" she asks quietly, and he wonders why she has not even rolled out of his arms yet.

"She left me. Said she'd found another guy who was more suitable for her. And I…she…" he trails off, because even old wounds sting a little when the scars are picked at.

"How do I come into this?"

"In the nightmare…you're marrying Ray. And I'm…I'm just sitting there and having to watch you…" he cuts off because he starts to panic a little that _this _is a dream after all, and that the nightmare is the reality.

"Tony, I am still here," she reminds him gently, and he gulps back his rising fear. "And I am not going anywhere."

"I need you to stay, Zi. Please." It is not until he says it that he realizes he truly _needs _it, because he really cannot live without her. Staying alive is one thing. Living is another. And he knows, just knows, that he will never live again if she decides to go because he has simply never loved anyone like he does her.

"I do not want to be anywhere else."

How can she love him that much? "How can you...know what you know about me and not mind?"

She smiles slightly. "I was almost in the same situation, yes?"

"Yeah, but 'almost' is the operative word here."

"Tony, it does not matter. We both know that we have been in love with others before this. But we are both here now, and that is what matters. I do not dwell on past loves or wish for future ones because I have someone to love right now, and that is enough for me. _You _are enough for me. And I hope…that I am enough for you too."

"You're more than enough. You're…" He cannot possibly express how much more. "Ziva…marry me."

"What?"

He takes a deep breath. "I mean, I know. The proper way to do it is with the ring, the expensive dinner, and the down-on-one-knee. And I've screwed it up. Oh my God. Forget I said anything."

"Tony." He can hear a hint of laughter in her voice. "You have not screwed it up. But…are you sure? I mean, I really am not going to leave. Just because you had that nightmare-"

"It's not that. I've been thinking about it for a long time. When you left for that mission I thought I wanted to surprise you and...ask you when you came back. But the nightmares started and I just kept freaking out. I couldn't figure out how to propose 'cause…I don't know what the right way is, Zi. I hadn't used the right way with the other woman – Wendy. And I'm past her but…it's different. I mean it's you. I can never get past you. Even with the Damocles…" He blinks away his tears before he continues.

"I went to the jeweller's. Spent hours looking for the perfect ring; they must've thought I had a screw loose with the way I was picking at everything. I found it in the end." He gazes tiredly at her. "But I still don't know what the right way is. I still don't know how to ask you to marry me."

She presses a gentle kiss to his lips. "Maybe you have just found the right way."

"How?"

"By speaking from your heart. Tony, I do not need an expensive dinner or a long speech. I do not even need a ring. All I need is for you to mean it when you ask me to marry you."

"I do."

"Then yes, I want to marry you."

"You do?" His whole person suddenly feels a lot lighter.

"More than I can tell you."

She does not have the chance to say anything else before he has crushed her to him again. "Ziva?"

"Yes?" her muffled voice replies.

He hesitates, and then asks almost shyly, "Can I still give you the ring?"

She laughs against his chest. "Please."

He turns over and retrieves the box from the drawer of his bedside table. Opening the box slowly, he hears her breath catch as she glimpses the ring that he thinks just seems to radiate her personality. It is the perfect ring for the perfect woman. Taking it out, he picks up her hand and slips it onto her finger.

And it is a perfect fit.

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><p><strong>I hope you all enjoyed it! Please forgive any factual errors, because I tried my best but I don't have much experience in these areas. And please leave a review on your way out! :)<strong>

**-_Soph_**


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